Tehran jails 15-year-old boy for pulling down Iranian flag

An Iranian member of parliament revealed that the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced a 15-year-old boy to five years of jail after being accused of dragging down an Iranian flag during the wave of protests against the regime.

The head of Iran’s judiciary committee, Mohammad Kazemi, told the online news site Etemaad that he spoke to the boy during his visit to the prison in the city of Hamadan in the center of Iran. He said that the flag was pulled down in Malayer Square.

The Iranian regime had arrested several high school students during the recent protests. The Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, Hussein Zulfiqari, said that more than 90 percent of those arrested were boys and young men.

Iran’s Center for Human Rights had warned that the Iranian judiciary system accused protesters of “corruption” and “fighting”, the penalty of which can be death if approved by the court.

They added that several protesters have already been arrested in Hamadan and face the possibility of getting such a penalty.

Iran witnessed widespread protests last month starting from the city of Mashhad with slogans against poverty and unemployment. They quickly spread to more than 100 cities, and the slogans turned into calls to topple Ali Khamenei’s regime.